Portman Ridge Finance Corp (NASDAQ:PTMN) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 173,000 shares, an increase of 22.8% from the July 31st total of 140,900 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 107,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.6 days. Currently, 0.5% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Several research firms have recently commented on PTMN. ValuEngine lowered Portman Ridge Finance from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday. TheStreet lowered Portman Ridge Finance from a “c-” rating to a “d+” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Zacks Investment Research lowered Portman Ridge Finance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday.

Get Portman Ridge Finance alerts:

Shares of PTMN traded up $0.02 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $2.31. The company had a trading volume of 69,700 shares, compared to its average volume of 153,616. The company has a market cap of $85.92 million, a P/E ratio of 8.56 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. Portman Ridge Finance has a one year low of $2.10 and a one year high of $3.80. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $2.30.

Portman Ridge Finance (NASDAQ:PTMN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.06 by ($0.04). Portman Ridge Finance had a positive return on equity of 2.41% and a negative net margin of 86.64%. The business had revenue of $6.91 million for the quarter. Sell-side analysts predict that Portman Ridge Finance will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.39%. Portman Ridge Finance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 88.89%.

In related news, CEO Edward J. Goldthorpe purchased 11,500 shares of Portman Ridge Finance stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $2.29 per share, with a total value of $26,335.00. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Over the last three months, insiders bought 32,639 shares of company stock valued at $73,509. Corporate insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. purchased a new position in Portman Ridge Finance during the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. LPL Financial LLC purchased a new position in Portman Ridge Finance during the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Portman Ridge Finance during the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in Portman Ridge Finance during the 2nd quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Citadel Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Portman Ridge Finance during the 2nd quarter worth $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.82% of the company’s stock.

Portman Ridge Finance Company Profile

Portman Ridge Finance Corp. is a private equity fund and non-diversified closed-end investment company that invests in middle market companies generating consistent cash flows located in North America. It targets companies operating across a broad range of sectors such as aerospace and defense, automotive, beverage, food and tobacco, broadcasting and entertainment, buildings and real estate, personal and cargo transport, chemicals, plastics and rubber, containers, packaging and glass, diversified or conglomerate service, ecological, electronics, finance, and healthcare.